Firing on all cylinders, Bullets pile up the runs

Brandywine Heights opened the season by scoring 13 runs in a win over Pine Grove.

And as the Berks Baseball League regular season rounds second base, the Bullets' potent lineup has kept up the barrage in virtually every game.

The Berks III-leading Bullets (6-1, 9-2), who enter the week with a 11/2 game lead over Oley Valley, are averaging 11.2 runs per game.

Since being tamed by Schuylkill Valley ace Cody Younker in a 6-2 loss March 31, the Bullets have reeled off six straight wins, including last week's 9-7 interdivision victory over Kutztown on Sean Sell's two-run walkoff homer.

That victory started a stretch of three wins in three days that saw Kyle Stoudt and Caleb Erb each collect four hits in Friday's 18-1 rout of Holy Name and Kyle Ziegler go 3-for-4 in Saturday's 6-5 non-league victory over Allentown Central Catholic.

The pitching staff, led by Erb (3-0), Stoudt (1-0) and Garrett Vroman (2-0) has been solid, as well.

Coming off a last year's memorable march to the PIAA Class AA semifinals, Brandywine appears in strong position to make a run at the 3-AA title, along with fellow Berks squads Tulpehocken and Kutztown.

Before that, though, the Bullets should have a shot to do some damage in the Berks postseason.

•Snakebit squads: Last year, Schuylkill Valley and Wilson met in the Berks semifinals. This season, the Panthers and Bulldogs each are having their toughest campaigns in a long time.

Schuylkill Valley started off by being shut out three straight times and has given up double-digit runs on six occasions, including Saturday's 20-12 non-league loss to Fleetwood.

Wilson, meanwhile, is in the Berks I cellar at 1-5 and, after six straight losses, is 2-7 overall. The last three defeats (Reading High, Fleetwood and Muhlenberg) have all come in eight innings after the Bulldogs took leads into the seventh.

•Mustangs on the move: Defending Berks champ Gov. Mifflin appears to be emerging from the four-team scrum in Berks I. The opportunistic Mustangs scored six unearned runs in Thursday's 7-4 win over Exeter, then outlasted Muhlenberg in a 9-8 thriller Friday when Kyle Summers delivered the go-ahead sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th. Mifflin (4-1, 7-4) leads Reading High (3-2, 6-5) by a game, with Exeter (2-3, 4-6) still lurking and Wilson looking for a big turnaround.

•Injury report: High Point likely will have to make due without standout Dathan Marshall for the foreseeable future, and perhaps the rest of the season. The senior right-hander is scheduled to undergo surgery on his left wrist Tuesday after an MRI last week revealed a broken bone that Marshall had been playing with most of this basketball season.

•Around the horn: First-year program Berks Christian, playing an independent schedule, is off to a 5-2 start. . . . Muhlenberg played 22 innings in a little more than 22-hour span over the weekend. The Muhls fell 9-8 in 10 innings to Gov. Mifflin Friday, then routed Wyomissing 24-2 in four innings in a game that started Saturday morning before rallying for a 11-9, eight-inning interdivision win over Wilson later in the afternoon.

In other games of note, Oley Valley visits Kutztown in Berks III-IV action Tuewsday; Phoenixville takes on five-time defending PAC-10 champ Boyertown at Bear Stadium in a game neither can afford to lose Wednesday; and Muhlenberg and Exeter square off in an interdivision action at Reiffton Friday.